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We cannot stress enough the importance of ensuring the right management of online reputation.
Moreover, at Blogzuola we have depicted several times how bad
can it get when companies or people in general do not pay special
attention to how they are managing their online reputation. Although
striving to avoid online reputation issues is something coherent with a
company’s goals, it is also possible to experience bad times as a
consequence of neglecting its magnificence.

This is
why we have come up with several online reputation management tips for
successfully managing the company’s reputation: from getting back from a
distressful experience to boosting the current statu quo, as well as
coming up with effective ways of repairing online presence. The vast
spectrum of online presence allows companies and people in general to
harness all the tools it has got to offer: content creation, social
media presence, search engine optimization enhancement are just some of
the existent tools at the service of today’s corporate world. Thusly,
managing online reputation is something that can be carried out by
dedicating enough time and effort, nevertheless, sometimes a little help
comes in handy since online reputation management is an ongoing
long-term process that requires hours of consistent dedication and
attention on a daily basis. Here are, then, some tips people can take
advantage of in order for them to attain a higher and healthier degree
of online reputation:

1 . Blogs

A
blog is certainly one of the most effective (free) tools available.
Writing and consequently posting instructive and compelling articles on a
weekly basis has proven to be tremendously crucial. Bear in mind that
in today’s juncture, consumers and people in general —as well as
potential investors— base their impressions on what they get to see
online about a company, therefore, it is highly advisable to use catchy
titles, write coherent and important content, use several images (if
affordable, buy them), and do not forget to also insert an internal and
external link.

2 . Get rid of negative links

The
massive amount of digital and social media platforms enabled consumers
to post about their purchasing experiences, and, given the fact that
today’s market is highly demanding, it is also possible to find people
writing and pejorative reviews about a specific brand. Trying to get rid
of a negative post, testimony, blog entrance, Instagram picture, etc.,
although possible is rather usually highly stringent, as getting rid of
things that have already been published is really a daunting task. We
suggest contacting the person who wrote it and in a very polite,
professional and respectful way request that specific mentioned to be
removed. Bear in mind that, given the fact that this situation is
uncanny and sensitive, the risk of incurring in a worse situation is
extremely high, therefore, plan in advance how to reach out to that
customer and have a general outline on how to approach them.

3 . Harness the scope of YouTube

Social
media platforms embody a powerful tool. YouTube, in spite of being not
necessarily a social media platform, its content can be shared on them. A
video is a tremendously effective way to get back from an online
reputation problem. Creating a video focusing on the positive things
—and consequently sharing it— is likely to be really effective when it
comes to boosting or repairing a company’s reputation. Spare no effort
in striving to create instructive content full of useful tips and
information, while keeping it as succinct and skilled as possible.
Customers seem to fondly value companies whose online presence is
complemented with other digital and innovative ways of conveying a
message. A video is one of the most (almost free) ways to show a
company’s target market more about itself in hopes of reaching out to
more customers while convincing them of the company’s value.

4 . Harness the scope of Google Alerts

Google Alerts is an effective way to successfully
manage online reputation, which is why we recommend readers sign up (for
free) for Google Alerts. Our guess is that readers sometimes might find
themselves struggling to monitor a certain word, term or phrase as part
of their search engine optimization management,
however, using Google Alerts will allow them to receive a notification
regarding the terms and words they want to monitor. Use to monitor the
company’s name and find out what is being said about it so that, should a
pejorative mention were to appear, a quicker decision on how to proceed
to restore the company’s reputation can be taken.

5 . Use infographics

Ever
since customers had access to multiple digital devices, their time for
reading long posts is more limited. An infographic comes in handy for
depicting a succinct representation of a given topic or idea. Besides,
it is really easy to share it on the different social media platforms.

In spite of being a somewhat recent term, reputation management, or
reputation, for this matter, is as old as man himself. However, and
since the world has been experiencing the fourth industrial revolution
—where the line between digital and analog is becoming more and more
blurry— understanding and, furthermore, successfully managing a
company’s or a personal online reputation might seem a daunting task. In
reality, reputation management is a really simple topic
which people make overly complicated, especially in the business world.
Back in the days, reputation management used to mean something more,
and it kind of should today as well since, everything people do as
business —from tech support to the final product, for instance— is
ultimately related to that business’s reputation as it extends to, for
example, the customer’s experience —thereby enabling them to develop
their own perception of that specific company.

In
recent years, the term itself has evolved into a more digital one: its
meaning is now inherently correlated to the variety of search engines.
Customers, and given the degree of digital options people can use
nowadays, and the degree to which information can be shared, have leaned
towards a greater use of digital devices in order for them to gather
information on a specific topic, and, as readers might have already
realized, a business is not the exception. Purchasing decisions are now
based on what customers find online about a specific business (or
person), and, in this juncture, neither a business or a person want to
appear online under a pejorative scheme —as it will definitely undermine
their hope of getting more customers while keeping their own loyal.
Although the previous example might sound somewhat extreme, what
businesses and people should strive to is to appear in the first page of
Google results, since people usually do not get past the third page
when looking for something, and, being this the current scenario,
companies should pay special attention to how the can develop the best
reputation possible, and realize those things which they can control in
order for them to attain a healthy reputation management.

Although
certain aspects of reputation management lie solely with the customers,
there are other issues that can be controlled by a business or a person
using simple tools like social media profiles. Social Media has proven
to be one of the most successful tools for companies to develop their
reputation. Since the portion of customers better referred to as
Millenials have driven the market to a more digital field, they are
looking forward to interacting with the brands and the companies they
currently use, as well as gathering information about new sites and
companies —which, in turn, has made more difficult for a brand to keep
them loyal. Nevertheless, whether it is an entrepreneur, a freelancer, a
well-established company, a startup, regardless of the case, being
proficient in the use of social media tools —LinkedIn, YouTube,
FaceBook, Twitter, Google +, etc. is crucial, as Google and the other
search engines find these sites highly reputable, therefore, it is more
likely for one of this sites to appear in the first page of Google
results than a company’s own website, for instance. Every time customers
look up for something, or every time they browse across internet
looking for something new or a way to serve their needs, they are more
likely to find the company’s Facebook, or the company’s Twitter, or
whatever form social media profile, whereby they will form their first
impressions about something new, or whereby they will look forward to
interacting should they have tried or purchased from that company
before.

This framework suggests that companies ought to develop greater social media skills
so they can harness the degree to which these social media tools and
websites impact a company’s reputation: having a strong, well-developed
social media profile will result in a stronger online reputation and
will likely rank much higher in the different search engines, which,
ultimately, will result in more possible customers and in keeping older
ones loyal in the long run. Moreover, if social media does not
necessarily enhances a business’s activity: meaning these will not act
as a customer magnet, for instance; or that that specific business,
given the nature of its activity, cannot benefit that much from social
media profiles, it is really advisable, regardless of this juncture, to
still acquire and manage a strong and healthy social media profile, not
just one, but several, as, and in accordance to the fact mentioned
before, search engines value —or use, better said— these sites’ URL more
than other given the degree of reputability they entail.

At Blogzuola we understand that the fourth industrial revolution,
and Millenials, brought a new way of communication, and those companies
seeking to attain a stronger and healthy online presence should
definitely consider changing older marketing paradigms.

Every company wants to be the first choice in their respective
industry. Likewise, every individual would like to be at the top of the
prospect pool when a job opening comes along. Those looking to hire a
company or an individual will take to the internet to try to find as
much information on them as is possible. This kind of profiling has
become standard practice in any hiring process. Companies want to make
sure they are working with the best people and companies, and not just
regarding their field of expertise, but also their professionalism. Social media networks are extremely powerful
things. They can tell a lot about a person.

You can learn about their
social life, their private ones, and their professional life by just
glimpsing at different profiles. With regards to professionalism and
qualifications, one of the places you can be sure they will look is on
LinkedIn.

LinkedIn
has become a prime player when it comes to getting to know a company or
individual professionally speaking. It gives everyone a chance to
highlight what their strengths are and since it is a professional social
network you can be sure it has a level of seriousness you will be
hard-pressed to find on other social networks. How you fill out a
profile can help a company or individual rank higher on search engine
results pages. Oh yes, LinkedIn is rather helpful when it comes to
search engine optimization. Let’s see how you can improve LinkedIn to
increase chances of ranking higher.

1. Make the most out of keywords.

One
of the greatest secrets of LinkedIn is how it gives users a plethora of
spaces to put keywords that will put them in contact with the right
people and companies. LinkedIn’s search tools take these keywords to
match a search with the right profile. The most crucial space for
keywords is your “Professional Headline”. It’s where you give an idea
of who you are and what you’re capable of. Make sure you put some
thought into this part of your profile. Other places to put some
keywords are “Experience” and “Skills”. Just make sure that you don’t
incur in keyword stuffing as this will surely be punished.

2. Join groups and participate in them

Don’t
fill up a profile with a bunch of groups for the sake of adding groups
and posing as someone who is interested in a lot of things. LinkedIn
showcases users who are actively participating in forums and groups.
The company wants users to share their insights. Comments are a great
way to show your expertise. You can even propose a discussion or ask a
question to get the ball rolling somewhere else

3. Get recommendations from those you have worked with before.

Word
of mouth is still one of the best, if not the best, marketing
strategies out there. What people who have worked with you think is
very important on LinkedIn. Think of them as references on a job
application. Those who can speak well of you will improve your chances a
whole lot more. Don’t underestimate the power of recommendations when
it comes to boosting your search engine results.

4. Connect with the right people

You’ve
surely got friends from college, from previous jobs, and from your
current one whom can vouch for you. Look for them on LinkedIn and add
them to your connections. LinkedIn even makes it easy by adding a
“People You May Know” section where you can see some recommendations.
Look for your email contacts and add who you want. Additionally, look
for people in the industry and have a look at their profiles to see how
they can help you or how you can learn from them. The idea behind
LinkedIn is to build a network of professionals who share similar
thoughts and ideas. You can’t do this without making connections. It’s
that simple really.

Search engine optimization is not only
getting on top of Google or Bing’s search results. Every social network
has its own ranking algorithm to showcase their best or most prominent
users. Getting on top of LinkedIn’s is key to being considered for your
dream job or to be hunted by a large company. The previous for
strategies are essentially SEO strategies but applied specifically to
LinkedIn. They will surely help anyone rise the ladder and get noticed
more than those who aren’t considering them. Any professional who wants
to be taken seriously needs to have a LinkedIn profile, not having one
is like being in a desert without water: you won’t survive.

Blogzuola strives to help its clients and visitors find the best strategies and
help to get to the top of search engines, no matter what platform
they’re on as well as helping them improve their online reputation.
Keep coming back to find more content and to learn how to better your
SEO and online reputation strategies.

Screaming Frog is one of those SEO tools that even though is not
really so well-known, is incredibly useful if you learn how to use it
properly. Screaming Frog SEO Spider is definitely the best option to
check a tremendous amount of mistakes on your website, which, by the
way, are easy to commit, and very difficult to detect, taking into
account all the factors that you must consider to achieve better
rankings in search engines like Google.

In general, Screaming Frog
allows you to evaluate a whole website in the same way as Google’s
spiders do. After the complete evaluation of a website, this tool
produces a report that tells you which links are broken, which images
may be inappropriate, which text may be duplicated, or which are the
problems regarding CSS code files, among others.

The
first thing to note is that this is a desktop application, not an
online tool. This means that it is necessary to download it on your
computer from the SEO Spider website
in order to use it. Of course, you could do an excellent checklist of
everything you have to do to improve the SEO of your website. However,
doing this work manually may be a grueling job (especially if your
website is quite complex in terms of content, scripts and web design,)
and if you allow this tool to analyze your site in depth and
automatically, you could spend that time in thousands of other tasks
related to the world of SEO, digital marketing, and online reputation
management.

Moreover, no matter how careful and
perfectionistic you are: You are a human being who makes mistakes. Just
imagine reviewing every single code file on your website. Just that. If
you leave this heavy work to Screaming Frog, your error rate will be
reduced almost to zero.

You can use Screaming Frog for free in a limited way (you can check
up to 500 URLs without paying,) but you can’t use all the functions (for
example, saving projects.) The license has a cost of £149 (about
US$189,) which is not much considering all this tool can do for your
business.

Another pro is that Screaming Frog is
really easy to use. The interface is simple, and has not even changed
much since the previous versions:

You
can scan your own website as well as others. It may be the website of
your competition, of course, and the information provided by the On-Page
optimization report will allow you to know what failures you could
correct on your own website. This is especially useful when you are
starting a project, for example, when you are in the middle of a keyword
research. Analyzing the competition at this point can make the
difference to know if starting such a project is a waste of time, or if
it is definitely a task that cannot wait. Also, if you work as an SEO
consultant, it goes without saying that this tool should be a must for
your business.

In just a matter of minutes, you have
access to information that is typically collected in weeks after an
analysis of a website with literally millions of code lines and
thousands of pages (for example, any large news portal like The New York
Times, which has, by the way, articles, columns and reviews written
since the first half of the previous century.)

This
tool allows you to select what type of information you want to obtain
and then do your metrics and web analytics. For example, you may only
want to check for errors in code files, 404 errors, or if you just need
to fix some metadata failures. In that case, you can only check the
options for the On-Page issues you need, so that the review process gets
even much faster. Screaming Frog also offers other tools like the Log
File Analyzer, which helps you to load your log files, identify the
crawl URL and analyze the behavior of the spider.

Screaming
Frog works for either Windows, Mac or Linux. If you want to use this
SEO tool for free, in case you want to try it, the download is done
automatically on your computer. As it was already mentioned, you have a
limit of 500 URLs in such a case, and you must be careful since if the
website you are going to evaluate is so big that it exceeds even that
number of URLs, then the best thing for you is to actually pay for the
premium version. However, if you are just taking the first steps in the
SEO world, the free version can even be a good school to learn about
what aspects a Google spider studies to place in a certain ranking.

This
SEO On-Page tool can be one of your professional secrets: The SEO Ace
up your sleeve. Use it for free if you are still not convinced to
purchase the premium version. Check out this free tutorial for further information.

Trying to write a blog post or an article is something easier said
than actually done: this apparently simple task demands, in fact, a lot
of effort. Writers definitely can assert that, when it comes to writing,
much effort is put into the research, the planning, the mere writing
and, last but not least, the subsequent optimization of the content
published on a particular web page—because all of this is done for SEO
purposes—.
So, it is pretty clear that there is a myriad of
details that need to be included in order for writers to come up with
compelling pieces of content, especially if those pieces are supposed to
do it all: attract new readers, provide accurate and valuable
information, turn visitors into new customers and, most importantly,
help rank websites much better on the different search engines.

Under
the aforementioned circumstances, writers often get frustrated once
they realize that several hours—even days—have passed after starting
what they initially thought was going to be an easy and quick post.
Therefore, we at Blogzuola strive to provide readers, especially writers in this case, with ways to produce content without getting overwhelmed with this sometimes daunting challenge
somewhere down the line. The following tools and resources will
definitely come in handy for improving any writing process:

Content Writing Tools That Have Proven To Be Efficient

First
and foremost, it is important to clarify that, when it comes to writing
content, writers often identify different objectives within the same
task:

Objective # 1: Using a readable, easy-to-understand language

Internet
users and people in general typically do not read web articles in their
entirety—users, in fact, spend up to a minute on average on a
particular website—. Coming up with easy-to-read pieces of content
provides readers with the information they are looking for, thusly
increasing the chances of achieving a more sustained and lasting
engagement.

Hemingway App

Hemingway App
is a free website where writers can paste the content they have just
written, and the app will highlight a variety of things that can be done
much better, ranging from complicated sentences, erroneous and
confusing vocabulary, to passive phrasing and more.

Objective # 2: Coming up with eye-catching titles using the proper keywords

Writing
the body of a particular post is naturally no easy task; however,
writers seem to struggle just as much when they try to decide the title
of their pieces of content. Figuring out the title is perhaps one of the
most mentally demanding tasks when it comes to content writing. The
title is responsible for catching the reader’s attention while making
the site rank high on the different search engines.

Blog Topic Generator

Blog
Topic Generator is a simple app that allows writers to paste the
keywords they want to pay special attention to. In turn, the tool will
recommend different topics and titles. This one is particularly used for
planning chunks of blog posts or coming up with a compelling title
without falling victim of an unnecessary thinking.

Objective # 3: Writing genuine and original content

Saying
that copying other people’s work is no less than bad would be stating
the obvious. Writers—and the different search engines—know that
duplicating content is faking an apparent good job. If a particular site
seems to feature content that can be found all over the Internet,
search engines will counteract against this and will end up penalizing
that particular site by making it much more difficult to be found.

Siteliner

This
tool allows writers to scan their pieces of content quickly and
accurately, thusly finding out whether their text possesses, to some
extent, any sort of possible duplication. When it comes to being
original, writers cannot be extra careful. With Siteliner, writers and
written content developers can check single sentences or specific
phrasing to make sure they have not duplicated nor copied someone else’s
work.

Objective # 4: Using images to make the post much friendlier

Using
images is not writing content per se. Nonetheless, it is a great aid
for presenting any sort of written content in a more attractive and
friendlier manner. Users and readers who come across chunks of text
often feel intimidated by them, which, in turn, causes them to quickly
lose interest.

Canva

Canva is
arguably one of the most magnificent image creation tools. Users can
select the image type out of several options. With hundreds of free
templates and different backgrounds, images, icons, etc. at hand,
writers will never miss out on inspiration.

Objective # 5: Coming up with content that performs effectively

Search
Engine Optimization and Search Engine Conversion are two different
separate goals in light of the scope of content writing; however, once
the proper balance appears between them, the result is web content that
performs efficiently, and although there is no tool for that, reading
helpful pieces of written content that provide writers with the guidance
they need prior to developing an effective piece of written content is
definitely something worth doing.

Back in 2015, Google announced that mobile searches had reached the
same amount as desktop searches. This marked a historic point in terms
of search engine optimization and where it was headed. 2016 has gone
by, and mobility has now taken its place atop the searching mountain.
It’s almost impossible to not see anyone looking down at their mobile
device and not be looking for something. Desktop searches are starting
to become a thing of the past given how voice searches are starting to gain momentum
on mobile devices and its integration into the most popular apps seems
rather inevitable. We are moving rather quickly from the traditional
form of SEO, intended for desktop browsers and websites, and into the
age of mobile search engine optimization.

In addition to the growth of voice searches, a look at some of the most important trends for SEO in 2017
makes it rather clear that if a website does not run well on a mobile
device then it will be punished by search engines. Google’s
mobile-first indexing will probably become standard once they work out
all the minor bugs and when that happens, crawlers are going to be
searching a website’s mobile version to get all the indexing information
they need to place a site on the appropriate spot in rankings. It’s
time developers started worrying a little more about making sites mobile
friendly and in order to get that done they will need to rely on
several tools. Blogzuola is here with a set of tools that will
help make a site more compatible with mobile devices and stay ahead of
the game.

1. Test my Site by Think with Google

Your site may already be rather user-friendly, but you just might not know as much. Thanks to Test my Site
by Think with Google, the search engine’s company website that helps
marketers analyze trends, a developer can check how mobile-friendly a
site really is and what needs improvement. Google has practically set
the rules and procedures for effective SEO since it became the leading
search engine. The company is constantly innovating and experimenting
how to index sites more effectively and in such a way that the ultimate
winner will be the users and not the companies. Test my Site provides a
pretty good starting point for any mobile SEO strategy. If you’re in
the mood for a second opinion, you can always try Mobile Friendly Check by SEOCentro.

2. Adwords Keyword Planner

Keyword analysis
will always be a huge part of any SEO campaign. It gives marketers the
starting point for creating content that will capture a user’s
attention and have them coming back for more. Keywords are usually
based on words that a large number of people are searching for. Adwords Keyword Planner
can show marketers which keywords are trending on mobile devices. All
it takes is a quick configuration in the “Advanced options”. Just
select “Mobile” where it says “show ideas and statistics for” and
presto, you’ve got yourself keywords for mobile SEO.

3. Use Schema markup

A while back Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, and Yandex teamed up to bring us Schema.org.
With this, the four companies gave the world one of the best ways to
optimize a site for SEO. They basically created a universal language
which could tell crawlers a lot of really important information with the
end user in mind. You’ve probably seen the results at the top of
search results when a search engine shows you a snippet with the most
relevant site for the information a user was searching for. Getting
well versed in Schema markup will definitely help your mobile cause.
Why? Ask yourself the following: “What stands out the most on
relatively small screen, a snippet of information or the links to many
websites?” The question answers itself.

4. Take advice from Google

The final tool isn’t so much one, but rather a guide which will help developers create mobile optimized sites
that will rank well with search engines in particular Google. Going
over the guide and understanding what Google takes into consideration as
an optimized mobile friendly site will come in very handy when a
developer is setting one up. Imagine you’re a kid on the playground and
follow the leader.

Mobile SEO is the future of the industry.
2016 was marked by a number of trends that clearly favored mobile
friendliness over the traditional desktops. More and more people are
satisfying their search needs on their mobile devices and SEO
professionals and marketers must stay up to date with this trend which
looks to become standard in the following years. The sooner a site
becomes mobile friendly and uses SEO tools with a mobile focus, the
sooner it will start to climb the rankings and get ahead of the
competition.

If you could watch all the videos uploaded to YouTube during an hour,
you would need several days and gallons of coffee. The amount of
information uploaded to YouTube today is greater than the amount of
interactions across the Internet twenty years ago. It’s just hard to
assimilate, and even more to think about how to capture the attention of
YouTube users with a video nowadays. One of the best ways to do it, and
therefore, to have a better SEO, is by publishing good audiovisual
contents. If you have no idea to make viral videos (and maybe you think
you need too much money and time,) this post is for you.

First
off, it’s important that you know how a viral video can help you to
optimize your search engine rankings. A video about a product or service
increases the chances that a consumer pays for it. When advertising is
only made of images it usually becomes a regular Internet landscape. On
the other hand, if the video is entertaining enough (and you do not need
to invest a lot of money for this purpose, but having good ideas,) your
website visitors will spend more time on your page, and this helps to
improve your position on engines like Google or Bing. Finally, if the
video is funny, it is very likely that thousands (or millions) of users
end up sharing it on the social media. This will ultimately mean more
visits to your website.

Extension of videos

Remember
that you are competing for attention, and your viewers have thousands
of focuses of entertainment all the time. Make short videos, 3 minutes
long (or less), for example. The first thing Internet users do before
watch a video is to check its length. Unless it’s a video they’re
looking for and they’re dying to watch, they’ll never click on a
ten-minute video. In fact, if the attention of the users is not hooked
within the first ten seconds, they usually close the tab or keep
scrolling down.

How to make a good video in such a
short time? Well, if you know what you are showing, you must know how to
show it: in an hour, in five minutes or in thirty seconds. Plan
everything well, writing a script and review it enough. Rehearse before
recording. Then shoot.

Time of publication

This is key. You should know to
recognize the times of greater and lesser traffic on the Internet (of
course, also consider the time zones around the planet.) Mondays and
Tuesdays are perfect for publishing videos because most Internet users
procrastinate while they are working and, in general, the visits
decrease on weekends. Publishing a viral video, for example, in the
early afternoon, when workers return to work after lunch, increases the
chances of being seen by many bored procrastinators.

This
also includes the actuality of the videos. If the content of your video
refers to an event that has taken place the day before (or one week,
top,) you will certainly get more views. Actuality is an attention
magnet: everyone wants to know what is going on right now, to laugh at
it, to understand it, to feel emotions about it.

Inspire

Sound
like this sounds, it is preferable to appeal to the emotions of viewers
than their thoughts. Emotions lead someone to press the share button.
When planning your video, look for all the images, music, and texts that
inspire viewers; all that trigger their emotions (of any kind,
especially the positive ones.) Stories of overcoming tough situations,
of compassion, of joy in the midst of pain, laughter in the midst of
crying, hope in the midst of despair … Point your ideas in that
direction.

Now, don’t be afraid of being unoriginal.
Originality is not doing something that anyone has ever done before,
because, in essence, everything is already done. Originality has to do
with unique combinations of ideas that already exist. These connections
are part of your unique perspective on reality, life and the world
itself.

Quality

Find a good editing software. You
don’t need the best camera and the best recording equipment, but it is
important that the quality of the image and sound are decent. There are
several free video-editing programs available. One is Windows Movie
Maker, which is included in Windows and is quite easy to use (basically
it consists of drag and drop.) Another good option is VirtualDub, a free
software with excellent compression capability, video split and the
possibility to add simultaneous soundtracks. You can also use FFMpeg,
which is a free software collection capable of recording, converting and
transmitting digital audio and video.

Even if you prefer someone
else to edit your videos (in case you really don’t have time for it),
you will not have to pay a lot of money to create a presentable material
with chances of being viral.

As of the past decade, the digital world has suffered a tremendous
evolution: ten years ago, maybe more, search results were nothing but a
small compilation of up to ten links on a determined search engine
results page. Those were the days where, perhaps, the term online reputation management
was not even close to what it means today; moreover, its connotation
was pretty much straightforward and self-explanatory: Internet users
could easily determine whether those results, those links, were related
to positive content —which, in case they were, that business’s
reputation was outstanding.

Nevertheless, with the
emergence and evolution of the digital world, those days are gone —and
things got a little bit more complex—. Given the pace at which
information surfs the Internet today, it is normal to see how wide the
spectrum of online reputation management has gotten: universal access to
information, mottled consumers, complaint sites, social media
platforms, forums, blogs, influences, etc., are now entailed within the
actual connotation of what once was known as online reputation
management. At Blogzuola we cannot stress enough the importance
of sparing no efforts in developing the healthiest possible online
reputation, as we are sure that the odds of thriving under today’s
digital framework are entirely subject to the quality of a business’s
ORM.

In prior articles we have addressed the topic
from different points of view; it is quite understandable that
well-established businesses still struggle today to adapt their
traditional marketing ideas to what today’s landscape demands;
furthermore, and with the emergence of Millennials and their
entrepreneurial ideas, online reputation management becomes an even more
important topic should they want to succeed. For entrepreneurs to
successfully monitor all the activities they need to carry out when it
comes to starting a business, it is quite advisable to use what the last
decade brought along: a sheer array of tools, not only for online
reputation management but for not overlooking crucial details. Given the
fact that entrepreneurs might as well get confused due to the
complexity of a business’s initial and start-up phase, when it comes to
online reputation management, monitoring all of these assorted sites in
hopes of protecting the business’s image can be a daunting task.

There
is certainly a vast pool of tools entrepreneurs can choose from in
order to check, enhance, improve and monitor their reputation without
rehashing the popular ones. Here are some of the tools that have been
supported by prior user experiences and that have consequently proved to
be as effective as the ones readers might already be aware of:

UberSuggest

Entrepreneurs have surely seen the perks of Google Autocomplete, especially those whose major concerns are related to search engine optimizations strategies,
however, such feature can also be linked to a business’s online
reputation management. The magnificence of Autocomplete is embodied
within the fact that it provides consumers with the first impression
about a given company: before the results desired results appear, Google
Autocomplete displays its suggestions just below the search bar.
Entrepreneurs ought to pay special attention to this since these
keywords possess a tremendous value: UberSuggest depicts different
variations of this Autocomplete values, which results in a crucial
insight as to whether the name of the company is being linked to
something negative.

IFTTT.com

Based
on old programming rules, IFTTT allows users to come up with basic
algorithms that can be tailored to their companies: they first create a
simple rule, then, should that rule occur, a previously decided action
is carried out. However, its perks, although related as well with search
engine optimizations strategies, can definitely be harnessed for
enhancing a company’s online reputation management strategy, since it
allows users to monitor their sites much easier by setting a rule so
that anytime a site’s RSS feed is updated they receive an E-mail. This
is useful to keep an eye whenever the company’s name is mentioned
online.

Complaint Site Search

In
today’s juncture, consumers are, perhaps, the factor that has remained
untouched: they are definitely everything. The majority of complaints
include terms whose interpretations are barely misleading: scam,
deception, dissatisfaction, amongst others. Such sites can either turn a
company’s hopes for success into nightmare or dream all of a sudden,
given their popularity amongst the majority of consumers. There are at
least up to 50 different complaint websites that stand out from the
rest; their target focuses on all kinds of companies —which is why the
odds of showing up on these sites is higher that expected—. Online
reputation management is based on the idea of making a name for the
good, and, consequently, out of practically necessity, a search engine
that enables marketers and entrepreneurs to go through all these
complaint sites is now available. At least sort of: Google’s Custom
Search tool is pretty effective and will definitely come in handy for
such events.

Some think this is an excellent idea, mainly due to the amount of
traffic on Wikipedia (not to mention that it is the main referent of
many users looking for information around the world.) Others have a poor
opinion of this method, and they even warn you not to use it for not
spoiling your online reputation. Let’s look at the arguments from both
points of view.

On the one hand, Wikipedia is an example of
the information revolution we are experiencing today. Not only is it a
free platform that will give access to any user around the globe to
terabytes of information in different languages on a wide variety of
topics. This is a matter of tremendous interest when we think of the
history of knowledge and information, bearing in mind that knowledge was
a privilege before, when the only books were available in monasteries
or some old universities, such as Oxford or the Sorbonne (available,
moreover, not only for those who actually knew how to read and write,
who were few already but for a select elite of readers.)

Millions
of people study or complement their studies thanks to Wikipedia, and
although it is not a reliable source for serious academic research, it
is not necessarily useless, since there are several bibliographical
references that can guide someone in any research as an introductory
reading. In addition, if an expert or a good connoisseur of a particular
subject notes that the information contained in a Wikipedia article is
wrong or poor-documented, he himself can open a free account, modify the
text (or create it, if it does not exist,) as well as discuss in the
forums.

In short, it is a powerful tool to know more about any
topic. In fact, Wikipedia articles, because of their traffic, tend to
have very good visibility in Google searches. They are almost always
located in the first results and this, in turn, keeps the traffic high.

For all the above, many companies and individuals consider that a
Wikipedia article that favorably mentions them or their brands will be a
great way to be known and popular according to the way in which they
want to be perceived. In other words, they use Wikipedia as a tool to
build – and clean – their online reputations.

Others, like Mike Wood, think otherwise: “Through
my years as a professional Wikipedia editor, I am often contacted by
companies who in some way are looking to use Wikipedia as a reputation
management tool. My advice to them 99% of the time is to simply walk
away and pray that a Wikipedia page about their company is never
created. To help understand the effect that Wikipedia can have on
reputation management, it is helpful to understand that one of the most
common goals of reputation management is to push any negative content
that shows up on the first page of Google results to the second page and
beyond.”

So here is where the problem comes up because while creating a new
Wikipedia article is relatively easy, erasing it is nearly impossible.
Why should I erase it, if it was precisely created to provide good and
positive information about me, my brand or my company? you may ask.
Well, precisely, because anyone can modify the text file; and even
though there are always trolls who just want to write nonsense to annoy
others (and those texts are soon removed by editors,) someone may upload
inconvenient information about your activities (which may be, for
example, the result of a human mistake or a malicious act from others
against you,) and even if you try to erase it and write what you would
like people to read, if there is enough evidence online that works as a
reliable source against you, the publishers will upload the erased
information again. Therefore, that information you want to evaporate
from the searches of Google and other engines will be engraved in stone.
Like a tattoo on a criminal’s forehead.

Any
well-informed expert will warn you about the dangers of this (if he
truly understands the basics.) One of the rules, perhaps one of the most
rudimentary, is that you should not allow under any pretext that others
manipulate your own online reputation; and, on the contrary, it is you,
and maybe your advisors, who must mold your own digital image in the
best way, according to your personal or commercial goals. This is not
possible by using Wikipedia as an online reputation management tool.
Probably, you will experience a reputation crisis sooner or later (and
maybe you looked for this service to prevent it or just to fix it,) and
what would you do in that case?

You better focus on what does
work. In this blog, you will find reliable and updated tools that work
for your own good. Check them out better.